Letter-box.



Patented 0ct'. 30, |900.

C. E. KNIGHT. LETTER oxj (A1 plication led Doo. 4, 1899.)

(No Handel.)

lmmf H MQW 'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

CHARLES EDWARD KNIGHT, oE LONDON, ENGLAND.

LETTER-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part 0f Letters Patent N0. 660,706, dated DetObr 30, 1906.

Application filed December 4, 1899. Serial No. 739,198. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES EDWARD KNIGHT, a subject of the Qu een of Great Britain and Ireland. residing at 135 Burnt Ash road, Lee, London, county of Kent, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Letter-Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved letterbox adapted for pillar or wall boxes for posting letters and other packages, and has for its object to prevent the fraudulent abstraction of the said letters or packages after they have been posted. For this purpose the ordinary letter-slot is provided with a plate arranged so as to slide vertically behind the slot and close the latter after the letter has been passed through and to open again automatically. This plate is fitted so as to slide between the slot and an inclined fixed plate for guiding the letter into the box, and underneath the inclined plate is pivoted a horizontal plate separating the upper part of the box from the lower or receiving part. Upon one end of the pivoted plate, upon each side of the latter, is xed a toothed quadrant or sector, whose radius is struck from the pivotal axis of the plate. The said toothed sectors gear with toothed racks or recesses fixed or formed on each side of the sliding plate and operate the latter upon the pivoted plate being tilted. The horizontal plate is pivoted upon knifeedge or scale bearings so arranged that it and the sliding plate exactly balance each other when in their normal positions. Thus when a letter is posted it falls from the inclined plate onto the pivoted plate, tilting the latter and raising the sliding plate, so as to close the slot. This tilting of the horizontal plate causes the letter to fall into the lower part of the box, the said4 plate then resuming its horizontal position and lowering the sliding plate, so as to open the slot for the next letter. The inclined fixed plate serves as a guard to prevent any weighty article being dropped upon the wrong end of the pivoted plate, so as to interfere with its tilting action.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Figure l is a vertical section of a postal pillar-box with the parts of the improved mechanism in their normal positions, and Fig. 2 is a similar view with the parts in the position they occupy when a letter has just been posted. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the up; per part of the pillar-box, and Fig. 4 is a sectional plan of the same. l

c is the pillar-box, formed with a smaller upper part or chamber b.

c is the letter-slot, and d the inclined plate, fixed behind the slot for guiding the letters into the box.

c is the vertical sliding plate, fitted between the slot c and the plate d, and fis the horizontal plate, shutting ofi the upper part l) of the box from the lower part a.

The plate f is pivoted on the knifeedge bearings g and is provided with the toothed sectors h, one on each side of the said plate. These sectors gear with the racks or teeth t', iixed to or formed on each side of the plate e.

As the letters or packages are postedtheyv slide down the inclined plate d onto the horizontal plate f, thus causing the latter by their weight to be tilted into the position shown in Fig. 2. The tilting of the plate f raises, by the action ofthe sectors h, the vertical sliding plate d, so as to close the slot c, and as the letter or package 7c falls from the pivoted plate fthe latter resumes its horizontal position and the plate e is lowered to again open the slot c. It will thus be seen that by the action of the pivoted platefit will be impossible to abstract any letters from the lower part of the box, for any instrument, string, or other device used for the purpose would only be caught or grippedl by the closing of the plate f upon attempting to withdraw the said device from the box.

Having now fully described the nature of my said invention, what I'claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The improved letter-box comprising an upper chamber provided with a `letter-slot and an inclined plate fixed behind the latter, a vertical plate sliding between the slot and the inclined plate, a pivoted horizontal plate separating the upper chamber from the lower part of the letter-box, and toothed sectors carried by the said plate and engaging with racks or teeth on the vertical sliding plate, substantially as described.

2. In an improved letter-box the combina'- IOC tion with the boi aofv an upper chamber: b having alletter-szlot c and aninelined plate d, a plate e sliding" vertically between the slot c ing the plate e upon the platef being tilted,l ro substantially as described.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my and the plate d, a horizontal plate f pivoted hand in the presence of two Witnesses.

on knife-edged bearings g, and separating the chamber b from the box a, toothedsectors h carried bythe plate f, and teeth or racks i carried by the sliding plate e and enoHARLEs EDWARD KNIGHT. u

Witnesses:

GIUs ALEssANDRo PIER'oNI, JAMES ROBERT CURTIS MAY; 

